New twist to lottery scam

Authorities in Colorado are seeing a new twist to the lottery scam that has been going on for years.

The typical scam involves a call or email saying you've won a lot of money, but you have to pay taxes and fees up front before you can claim the money.

In the new version, there is a second caller who claims to be with the FBI or some other law enforcement agency.

The alleged law enforcement officer claims the victim really did win a lot of money, and says the first caller was a scam artist who was trying to steal the money. The alleged officer says they have arrested the first criminal, and it is now safe for the victim to claim the money after they pay the fees.

There's another scenario where the alleged officer might accuse the victim of being involved in the scam, and threaten to have them arrested if they don't pay a fine.

According to the Douglas County Sheriff's Office, one of the phone numbers these scammers use is 360-831-9269.

Authorities say if you get one of these calls, keep in mind that legitimate sweepstakes companies will not ask you send in money to get a prize.

Also, authorities will not threaten you over the phone and ask for money.

If you have any doubts, call your local police department or the sheriff's office to verify, and authorities say don't just call the number the scammers give you over the phone. If you're calling to verify the legitimacy of the story, look up the number yourself.

The Douglas County Sheriff's Office also says if you have been a victim of the scam in the past, criminals might put your name on a list and sell it to other crooks. You may receive phone calls and threats from different criminals, from different places, so you always need to be on alert.

VIDEO: Watch the news report

New twist to lottery scamAuthorities in Colorado are seeing a new twist to the lottery scam that has been going on for years.T01M17Shttp://img.youtube.com/vi/uuX60vfnlHE/1.jpghttps://youtu.be/uuX60vfnlHE2014-04-21T10:22:00-05:00

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Authorities in Colorado are seeing a new twist to the lottery scam that has been going on for years.

The typical scam involves a call or email saying you've won a lot of money, but you have to pay taxes and fees up front before you can claim the money.

In the new version, there is a second caller who claims to be with the FBI or some other law enforcement agency.

The alleged law enforcement officer claims the victim really did win a lot of money, and says the first caller was a scam artist who was trying to steal the money. The alleged officer says they have arrested the first criminal, and it is now safe for the victim to claim the money after they pay the fees.

There's another scenario where the alleged officer might accuse the victim of being involved in the scam, and threaten to have them arrested if they don't pay a fine.

According to the Douglas County Sheriff's Office, one of the phone numbers these scammers use is 360-831-9269.

Authorities say if you get one of these calls, keep in mind that legitimate sweepstakes companies will not ask you send in money to get a prize.

Also, authorities will not threaten you over the phone and ask for money.

If you have any doubts, call your local police department or the sheriff's office to verify, and authorities say don't just call the number the scammers give you over the phone. If you're calling to verify the legitimacy of the story, look up the number yourself.

The Douglas County Sheriff's Office also says if you have been a victim of the scam in the past, criminals might put your name on a list and sell it to other crooks. You may receive phone calls and threats from different criminals, from different places, so you always need to be on alert.

VIDEO: Watch the news report

New twist to lottery scamAuthorities in Colorado are seeing a new twist to the lottery scam that has been going on for years.T01M17Shttp://img.youtube.com/vi/uuX60vfnlHE/1.jpghttps://youtu.be/uuX60vfnlHE2014-04-21T10:22:00-05:00

Doesn't it too obvious to know if you won or not since you're holding a ticket? Duh!

Too bad that it's perfectly legal to be dumb because these "victims" should be in jail. How do you believe you've won the lottery that you didn't play? And then you go ahead and send money to the con artists to get your money. And then as if that's not embarrassing enough, they call police and burden taxpayers to fix their problem.

Too bad that it's perfectly legal to be dumb because these "victims" should be in jail. How do you believe you've won the lottery that you didn't play? And then you go ahead and send money to the con artists to get your money. And then as if that's not embarrassing enough, they call police and burden taxpayers to fix their problem.

Too bad that it's perfectly legal to be dumb because these "victims" should be in jail. How do you believe you've won the lottery that you didn't play? And then you go ahead and send money to the con artists to get your money. And then as if that's not embarrassing enough, they call police and burden taxpayers to fix their problem.

Too bad that it's perfectly legal to be dumb because these "victims" should be in jail. How do you believe you've won the lottery that you didn't play? And then you go ahead and send money to the con artists to get your money. And then as if that's not embarrassing enough, they call police and burden taxpayers to fix their problem.

Yeah, all the people in the world dumber than you should be put out of your misery so you can enjoy your solitary existence as the last surviving human on the planet.

I would love to get called for one of these scams, recently I had the old "Microsoft Tech Department" or whatever they choose to call themselves scam call a couple times and went along with it for a good 30 minutes before I couldn't take it anymore, the Indian guy on the other end wasn't happy.